The massive life and conflict that Keller's novel "Der grüne Heinrich" seeks to address is condensed into the epic small format of the Seldwyler stories. In form, they are more objective than the novel, but more subjective in content. The progression of the stories reveals Keller's growing societal pessimism: his heroes degenerate from lovable outsiders into speculators. Seldwyla has now become ubiquitous and thus a poor norm. For the first time in many years, this edition offers a reliable text of the work that Friedrich Nietzsche counted among the "little treasures of German prose," worthy of being "read again and again." Unlike the tangible reading editions, the edition from the Deutscher Klassiker Verlag does not contain a mixed text from various versions but instead consistently follows the last version that Keller revised.